Prague Journal

Tuesday, December 28, 2004.

Eunice is preparing for her trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, so Brad and I went to her factory to plan a tentative sales strategy. Brad had not seen her factory or listened to her amplifiers, so it was nice to show him around. He’s not so much an audiophile as he is a techy and he understands marketing. He’s willing to help Eunice at CES if they can work out a reasonable plan. It’s an 11th hour effort, but miracles do happen.
Most neighborhoods are fairly quiet this week, but Old Town Square is still festive, with entertainment on the stage every night. There’s a “fairy tale” puppet show for children at 6 p.m., usually followed by singers or choral groups. Today they had several magicians, some of whom were pretty amateur. The children enjoyed them nonetheless. I enjoy the ambience. Its always a family place, always a lot of tourists taking in Prague for the first time. Rick and I sampled two kinds of roast boar (sandwiches) and spiced wine before sitting down to a formal dinner.
Rick had it in his mind to find a brewpub that had been recommended, so we ended up at the New Town Brewery for dinner. Rick described this place as an anthill, because it’s on at least four levels, two or three underground and a terrace above the main floor. According to the brewpub’s literature, this brewery dates back to 1933. The combination of mini-brewery and restaurant in a single building gave rise to the complex of interconnected cellars and surface-level dining space. Depending on where you sit, you can see the copper kettles, the fermenting cellar, the storage cellar, or the kitchen. They have only two kinds of beer, light and dark 11° unfiltered barm beer, which is free of preservatives and, of course, unpasteurized and unfiltered. The food is typical Czech cuisine, a bit pricey for such modest fare, but the service was quite good. Toward the end of the evening we were serenaded by an accordion player. The brewpub’s website says that they have a harmonica-player every evening. Perhaps we didn’t stick around long enough.

posted by JWinn @ 10:17 PM